Cardiff Bay Opera House
Encyclopedia
Cardiff Bay Opera House was a proposed centre for the performing arts in Cardiff Bay
, Cardiff
, Wales
, conceived in the 1990s as a crucial part of the Cardiff Bay
redevelopment project. One aim was of the scheme was the creation of a new home for the Welsh National Opera
company, which was then based in the New Theatre
in Cardiff. The Wales Millennium Centre
was built in its place and it opened in 2004.
The plan, supported by the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
, was to construct a permanent home for Welsh National Opera
on a site near the Inner Harbour, Cardiff Bay. An international design competition was held and was eventually won by the Iraq
-born architect Zaha Hadid
. The Hadid design was called the Crystal Necklace by some in the media.
However, the project failed to win financial support from the Millennium Commission
, the body which distributed funds from the UK National Lottery
.
, Mario Botta
, Rem Koolhaas
, Rafael Moneo
, Manfredi Nicoletti
, Pietro Marcozzi Architect, Rusli Associates, Werner Seligmann
& Associates, Percy Thomas Partnership
and Greg Lynn FORM
. Her avant-garde design was radical glass structure that surrounded the main theatre. However, her design was so radical that Lord Crickhowell
as chair of the Cardiff Bay Opera House Trust, asked Hadid to submit her design again along with Norman Foster + Partners
and Manfredi Nicoletti, who were asked to submit revised designs, for a second round of competition. But she again won this round too.
County Council or Cardiff City Council and was savaged by the media as being "elitist". The Millennium Commission
, which gave funding to such projects from the UK National Lottery, refused to fund the project as it considered it to be financially risky. This was not helped by the successful application for funding for the Millennium Stadium
, just a few miles away. Eventually, the project collapsed. The project was also said to have been destroyed by conservatism and provincialism in relation to the modern architecture, and by Cardiff Council
's support for the Millennium Stadium
.
The decision to formally reject the bid for lottery money
by the Millennium Commission
was announced on 22 December 1995. Many claim that the bid failed because of the widespread unpopularity of the Millennium Commission
support for the Royal Opera House
in London
, which was seen as elitist.
Virginia Bottomley
, Secretary of State for National Heritage
, announced in a news conference that the project was flawed by uncertainties in the building's financing and construction, which made it the project too risky. Lord Crickhowell interrupted that news conference to denounce the rejection. He said the decision was "...shocking and incomprehensible...If this had been a project in London, it would be getting backing...You can understand the annoyance of people in Wales that we can't get the kind of vitally important projects that London seems to be allowed."
The project was succeeded by the Wales Millennium Centre
, which included a broader range of artistic offerings and was said to be more in keeping with Welsh culture, whilst retaining the opera element. The Centre opened in November 2004, on the site originally intended for Opera House.
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, conceived in the 1990s as a crucial part of the Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...
redevelopment project. One aim was of the scheme was the creation of a new home for the Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
company, which was then based in the New Theatre
New Theatre (Cardiff)
The New Theatre although it usually uses its English name as a title) is one of the principal theatres in Cardiff, capital city of Wales, and celebrated its centenary in 2006...
in Cardiff. The Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...
was built in its place and it opened in 2004.
The plan, supported by the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
Cardiff Bay Development Corporation
The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was set up by the United Kingdom Government on 3 April 1987 to redevelop of one sixth of the area of Cardiff to create Cardiff Bay.-Objectives:...
, was to construct a permanent home for Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
on a site near the Inner Harbour, Cardiff Bay. An international design competition was held and was eventually won by the Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
-born architect Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
. The Hadid design was called the Crystal Necklace by some in the media.
However, the project failed to win financial support from the Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission
The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery....
, the body which distributed funds from the UK National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
.
International design competition
An international design competition was established by the Cardiff Bay Opera House Trust to decide on the architect for the project. The competition would eventually be in two rounds. The first round of the competition attracted 268 international competitors; it was won by Iraq-born architect Zaha Hadid. The list of architectural practices that took part in the competition included Itsuko HasegawaItsuko Hasegawa
is a noted Japanese architect.-Biography:Hasegawa was born in Shizuoka, received her degree in architecture from Kanto Gakuin University , trained with Kiyonori Kikutake. In 1969, Hasegawa entered Kazuo Shinohara’s lab at the Tokyo Institute of Technology as a graduate student...
, Mario Botta
Mario Botta
Mario Botta is a Swiss architect. He studied at the Liceo Artistico in Milan and the IUAV in Venice. His ideas were influenced by Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Louis Kahn. He opened his own practice in 1970 in Lugano.-Career:...
, Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...
, Rafael Moneo
Rafael Moneo
José Rafael Moneo Vallés is a Spanish architect. He was born in Tudela, Spain, and won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996. He studied at the ETSAM, Technical University of Madrid from which he received his architectural degree in 1961. From 1958 to 1961 he worked in the office in Madrid...
, Manfredi Nicoletti
Manfredi Nicoletti
Manfredi Nicoletti is an Italian architect.- Biography :Born in Rieti, Nicoletti began his artistic and intellectual career very young in the studio of Giacomo Balla. In Rome he studied under Pier Luigi Nervi and graduated in architecture in 1954...
, Pietro Marcozzi Architect, Rusli Associates, Werner Seligmann
Werner Seligmann
Werner Seligmann , was an architect, urban designer, and educator.He was born on March 30, 1930 in Germany. His father was a violinist; Seligmann inherited a lifelong taste for music and the arts in general. He family spent much of their life in Braunswieg Germany, until they were captured by the...
& Associates, Percy Thomas Partnership
Percy Thomas Partnership
Percy Thomas Partnership was a trading name of the award-winning British architectural practice originally set up by Percy Thomas in Cardiff, Wales in 1911/12. Percy Thomas and his practice put their name to a number of landmark buildings in the United Kingdom including the Wales Millennium...
and Greg Lynn FORM
Greg Lynn
Greg Lynn is owner of the Greg Lynn FORM office, an o. Univ. Professor of architecture at University of Applied Arts Vienna, a studio professor at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and the Davenport Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture. He was the winner of the Golden...
. Her avant-garde design was radical glass structure that surrounded the main theatre. However, her design was so radical that Lord Crickhowell
Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell
Roger Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, PC is a British Conservative Party politician and a former Secretary of State for Wales.-Background:...
as chair of the Cardiff Bay Opera House Trust, asked Hadid to submit her design again along with Norman Foster + Partners
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
and Manfredi Nicoletti, who were asked to submit revised designs, for a second round of competition. But she again won this round too.
Aftermath
The project lacked support from either South GlamorganSouth Glamorgan
South Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales.It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area...
County Council or Cardiff City Council and was savaged by the media as being "elitist". The Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission
The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery....
, which gave funding to such projects from the UK National Lottery, refused to fund the project as it considered it to be financially risky. This was not helped by the successful application for funding for the Millennium Stadium
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, located in the capital, Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and also frequently stages games of the Wales national football team, but is also host to many other large scale events, such as the Super Special Stage...
, just a few miles away. Eventually, the project collapsed. The project was also said to have been destroyed by conservatism and provincialism in relation to the modern architecture, and by Cardiff Council
Cardiff Council
The County Council of the City and County of Cardiff is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The council consists of 75 councillors, representing 29 electoral wards. The authority is properly styled as The County Council of the City and County of Cardiff or in...
's support for the Millennium Stadium
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, located in the capital, Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and also frequently stages games of the Wales national football team, but is also host to many other large scale events, such as the Super Special Stage...
.
The decision to formally reject the bid for lottery money
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
by the Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission
The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery....
was announced on 22 December 1995. Many claim that the bid failed because of the widespread unpopularity of the Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission
The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery....
support for the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, which was seen as elitist.
Virginia Bottomley
Virginia Bottomley
Virginia Bottomley, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, PC, DL is a British Conservative Party politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1984 to 2005. She was raised to the peerage in 2005...
, Secretary of State for National Heritage
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage...
, announced in a news conference that the project was flawed by uncertainties in the building's financing and construction, which made it the project too risky. Lord Crickhowell interrupted that news conference to denounce the rejection. He said the decision was "...shocking and incomprehensible...If this had been a project in London, it would be getting backing...You can understand the annoyance of people in Wales that we can't get the kind of vitally important projects that London seems to be allowed."
The project was succeeded by the Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...
, which included a broader range of artistic offerings and was said to be more in keeping with Welsh culture, whilst retaining the opera element. The Centre opened in November 2004, on the site originally intended for Opera House.